Name: Jaune Arc
LV: 13 EXP: 538/2600
Title: [The Experienced Student]
Race: [Moderate Human]

/-\/-\/-\

-Health-
HP: 1200/1200 (+60 HP Every Ten Seconds for -1 AP)
AP: 6200/6200 (+60 AP Every Ten Seconds)
MP: 620/620 (+30 MP Every Ten Seconds)

/-\/-\/-\

-Stats-
STR: 44
DEX: 32
INT: 31 (26+3+2)
WIS: 30 (29+1)
END: 40
CHA: 32 (26+4+2)
LCK: 20 (13+7)
Current Modifiers: Title, Race
SP: 47

/-\/-\/-\

-Equipment-

Right Hand Weapon: [Crocea Mors]
Left Hand Weapon: [Arc Family Shield]
Armour: [Stylized Combat Gear]
Accessories: [None]

/-\/-\/-\

-Money-

Lien: 2342
Other Currency: 0

/-\/-\/-\

-Bonds-

[Yang Xiao-Long] Bond LV: 21/200- Considers you a good friend

[Ruby Rose] Bond LV: 18/200- Considers you a friend

[Nora Valkyrie] Bond LV: 8/200- Considers you a friend

[Weiss Schnee] Bond LV: 44/200- Considers you a wonderful boyfriend

[Pyrrha Nikos] Bond LV: 21/200- Sees potential in you

[Lie Ren] Bond LV: 3/200- Thinks you're… Fine

[Blake Belladonna] Bond LV: 25/200- Considers you a good friend

[Glynda Goodwitch] Bond LV: 6/200- Thinks you are a very interesting student

[Velvet Scarlatina] Bond LV: 1/200- Sees you as a fellow member of the Cause

[Coco Adel] Bond LV: 4/200- Eh. Whatever

[Cardin Winchester] Bond LV: 50/200- Thinks you're the greatest friend ever

[Penny Polendina] Bond LV: 7/200- Sees you as a fellow member of the Agency

[Roman Torchwick] Bond LV: 7/200- Sees you as the son he- probably- never had, kinda, not really

[Neo Politan] Bond LV: 6/200- Sees you as a trustworthy asset

[Sun Wukong] Bond LV: 7/200- Sees you as potential help in fighting crime

[Cinder Fall] Bond LV: -1/200- Sees you as a horrible ally

[James Ironwood] Bond LV: 10/200- Sees you as a reliable soldier

[Salem] Bond LV: 200/200- Completely obsessed with you

It had been a long time since Jaune took a good look through his stats and bonds. This delay was mostly because he'd come to the realization that they didn't exactly matter. The leader of Team JWLR had taken on dozens of opponents far stronger than he was and lived to see another day- and most of these matches occurred when he was at a weaker state than currently. Frankly, Jaune had learned that there were two things that made worrying about stats completely irrelevant: Strategy and Experience. One would think that strategy comes from the intelligence or wisdom stats, but from what Jaune could tell, those only increased his aura capacity. And Experience… Well, there was only one way to acquire that.

And speaking of stronger opponents that he had managed to survive against, Yang and Pyrrha had just won their second round for Team PBNY. They could now join their sister team in the semifinal rounds as, expectedly, Ruby and Ren had defeated their opponents two days ago while Jaune and Weiss were battling the Fang. While the group of friends traveled down from the stands to congratulate the fighters, the team leader was stopped by a scroll call.

"Hello?" Jaune asked through the scroll- It was audio only.

"H- Hey Jaune! How have you been?" A surprising voice greeted him.

"Roman? Why are you calling me?" This was a shock to be sure, though not for the reasons most people would have. Having criminals contact him was old news for Jaune, but after he'd gotten Cinder off their backs, the criminal-sympathizer didn't think Neo or Roman would ever contact him again.

"What? Can't a guy call his old friend? We're friends… Right? I mean, aside from Neo, you're the only person who's ever done something for me because they wanted to and not because I forced them to." Jaune shook his head at the statement. What was Roman going on about?

"Sure, Roman. We're friends." He told his forgery supplier dryly. It may not have been a 'traditional' friendship that they shared, but none of Jaune's other relationships could be considered traditional either, so maybe Torchwick was onto something there.

"Great! And, hey- between you and me- Though Neo might never admit it, she feels the same way. She's a strong girl, can fend for herself and all that, but… Everyone needs someone to be there for them, even a badass bitch like her."

"I'm sure she's glad to have you, Roman." Jaune rolled his eyes. Seriously, what was he talking about?

"Yeah yeah… But if I wasn't… Would you be there for her?" The criminal was now sounding anxious, and Jaune wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

"You're starting to confuse me. What-"

"Would you be there for her?" He insisted.

"Sure, I-"

"Promise me." Roman demanded.

"Huff… I promise I'll be there for Neo if you're not around. Happy?"

"…Yeah. Thanks, kid."

"So why did you-" This time, Jaune was interrupted not by Roman, but by the sound of the dial tone. "Well that's a little rude." Then again, hanging up on someone was probably the least rude thing Roman had done all week.

Despite the strange nature of the call, something that Roman said inspired Jaune, and the hunter knew exactly what he had to do next.

"Yang."

"Sup, Goody." Yang greeted him. They were currently in Team PBNY's room- alone, since Jaune had convinced everyone else to give him some time with his fellow blonde. "Tell me, how do you plan to magically fix my drinking problem this time?"

The leader of Team JWLR took a deep breath. She was definitely correct about his intentions. Unfortunately, Yang was one tough nut to crack- and all previous attempts at helping her were met with failure… But not this time.

"Yang… As much as I would love to magically help you with your drinking problem, I cannot. In fact, there is no way that I can ever help you with how things currently are." At this admission, Yang raised an eyebrow, but Jaune wasn't finished. "I've never been able to help you because I don't know why you have a problem in the first place. We've never… Talked. That's a personal failure of mine, and I take full responsibility for it. But if you ever need someone to talk to, to lean on, please know that I will be here for you."

Roman's message had reminded Jaune of the most important aspect in a relationship- communication. He failed to help Ren because they never truly communicated their feelings to each other. Conversely, he was able to help Blake because they'd had an open discussion about her problems. Yang's situation, while unique, was no different.

They both sat in silence for a while after his declaration. It seemed the brawler needed to process his words. However, before he went to leave her room, she spoke.

"Well, if you want to talk about my problem, you'll probably want to know why I started drinking in the first place." She said suddenly.

You are now entering: [Yang's Flashback]

[OK]

The scene opened on a young girl- about thirteen or fourteen- with luxurious blond hair. She bounced on the balls of her feet at the edge of a mat arena.

"Today's the day, guys." The girl announced to the kids that peered over the walls around the arena. "I finally convinced my dad to unlock my aura. Rood is finally going to get what he deserves."

"Be careful, Yang." One of her friends warned. "Rood still has the experience, he's a year older than you."

"Heh." Yang chuckled. "If you think I'm gonna lose to that chump a third time, you've got another thing coming."

"Xiao-Long!" A male voice called from the entrance to the arena. "Are you so eager to be embarrassed in front of everyone once more?" That pompous voice meant only one thing: Rood was ready to fight.

"Enough with the banter." Qrow Branwen half-heartedly chastised the pair. "Get to the fight already, I've got other things to do." Despite being Yang's uncle, everyone knew the professor wasn't biased. If anything, he was harder on Yang than anyone else. But that didn't matter to Yang. She wasn't going to leave this fight to her uncle's call… It wouldn't even be close.

Immediately, the two fighters rushed at each other to the sound of the cheering crowd. For these fights, long ranged weapons were prohibited. The blond girl had no problem with this qualifier as her two wrist mounts were made for close combat anyway. Rood, on the other hand, carried a sword and pistol- though the pistol was currently at his side. His confident smirk was infuriating, but the knowledge that Yang would soon wipe it away gave her one of her own.

When they finally reached each other, Rood took the first strike. Trusting himself to have superior strength and agility, he made an easily counterable strike downwards, knowing that Yang would either have to get out of the way or face his wrath.

Yang decided to do neither of those things. With her own newly aura-infused strength, she caught him by the wrist and sucker punched him in the stomach. Rood went flying backwards, and the whole classroom was silent.

The arrogant boy picked himself up slowly and glared at her.

"You have aura now…" It wasn't a question, it was an accusation.

"Damn straight!" The blond winked at him mockingly.

"Fine. I suppose I'll have to take you seriously now."

The second clash marked a drastic change from the first. Where Rood had previously been all strength and no skill, he suddenly attacked with a form that none in the class even realized he was capable of. Yang's power boost changed nothing- Rood was still the superior fighter after all.

And that was infuriating.

With every cut that Yang's aura was forced to absorb, her anger grew. And with every strike Rood dodged, her anger grew. This was supposed to be her time, when she proved to everyone that she was the best fighter in the school… But it was simply untrue.

Yang could not handle that reality.

The abuse finally came to an end when Yang caught Rood by the hand once more. Except this time, she pulled him forward, towards her, and broke his arm. Rood didn't know how to react to this. Qrow didn't know how to react to this. But Yang did. Possessing a strength seemingly impossible for a young girl, the blond girl's fists smashed against Rood's body. She threw him to the ground and wailed on him, not stopping at the sound of his crunching ribs or the sound of his aura breaking. She continued to smash and smash and-

She did not recognize the person who tackled her. Yang' vision was completely red. Instead, she merely saw another opponent to dominate and tried her best to harm them. Unfortunately, this opponent was quite a bit stronger than her previous one.

Qrow had finally snapped from his shock when the boy Rood's aura broke. He tackled his niece off the boy and tried to make her calm down, but it was no use. Her golden hair was glowing and those purple eyes had turned red, like her mother's. The uncle's words weren't getting through to Yang, and she kept thrashing and thrashing below him. If he kept her like this, she was going to hurt herself, but if he let her go, she was going to hurt someone else.

Now, Qrow was not a smart man. He was able to think on his feet, sure, but those thoughts never extended past his own experiences. And his own experiences told him that the only way to calm down was to drink… So maybe that would help Yang too.

With one hand, he took out his flask and popped the cap. He quickly poured the concoction of his own invention down his niece's throat and waited. Qrow wasn't expecting instant results, but aura did enhance bodily functions, so the alcohol was absorbed within only a minute.

Yang finally calmed down and subsequently passed out… But the damage was already done. Yang's life could never be the same.

"It's my semblance that's the problem. Literally the representation of my soul. Every time I feel even the slightest pain, my semblance turns that pain into both strength and anger. If I don't drink, I won't be able to keep myself in check… It's a curse." Yang stated once the flashback ended.

Jaune was silent for a moment to process what he had seen. How could someone fight their own semblance? Was that even possible? No. There had to be a way. He refused to leave Yang to her fate. But what…?

"I can tell that you're trying to think of solutions right now, but trust me. Anything you think of, I've thought of as well and it doesn't work. So just-"

"What about Aura Channeling? Have you tried that?" The team leader spoke suddenly. Quite frankly, this was the only skill that could even possibly apply to her situation, so either thus was the answer or he had nothing yet again.

"Aura Channeling? What is that?" The blond asked him, making him blink in surprise. She didn't know about Aura Channeling? When Pyrrha taught him the skill, she said that it was taught to kids in school who had just unlocked their aura. But… Yang's aura was unlocked by her father- and based on Qrow's description of the man, it was unlikely that Yang was even taught the basics before she had to turn to drinking for her semblance.

"It's a technique meant to help people move aura throughout their body. Think of stretches before a workout, but for aura."

"How would that help me?" The member of Team PBNY gave him a fair question.

"Well, the easiest way to not get angry about something is to not think about it. So, if you were to focus both your mind and your aura into this technique when your semblance threatens to push you over the edge, you might be able to distract yourself for long enough to let the sensation pass." Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Do you really think that will work?" She challenged him.

"Honestly, I don't know. But what I do know is that your drinking tendencies are not only hurting you but your family and your friends as well, and things will only grow worse with time." Jaune admitted. "Will this strategy completely help you? Doubtful. Will it even help a little bit? I honestly have no idea. But if it does help- even the slightest amount- I urge you to use it whenever you can."

"…So how does it work?" Yang chose to not respond to his pleas and instead focus on his suggestion.

"Right. Think back to the first time you unlocked your aura, think about the feeling that flowed through your body. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. That feeling, recognize where it is: your core. Now, let it branch out through your whole body."

The blond brawler followed all his steps and seemed to fall into a trance for a few minutes. Finally, though, Yang took one last deep breath and opened her eyes.

"I think I got the hang of it. It… might work." She hesitantly hoped.

"You're strong, Yang." He put a hand on her shoulder. "One of the strongest women I know. If you believe that this will work, I know you, of all people, will have the strength to make sure it does." She gave him a soft smile in return.

"Thank you."

+5 Bond with:
Yang Xiao-Long
Bond LV: 26/200

[OK]

He left Team PBNY's dorm, but didn't immediately head back to his own. Instead, he decided to take a short walk over one of Beacon's many gardens to relax after that ordeal.

Relaxation, it turned out, would be impossible on this occasion, as the sound of shattering glass broke the peace instantly. Jaune spun around to find Neo before him, tears streaming down her face. They stood like this for a bit before the female criminal finally sobbed, making Jaune instantly pull her into a tight hug.

She wept silently into his clothes for a few minutes before she separated from him long enough to type out a message on her scroll. He hadn't asked her what was wrong, but she seemingly knew that he wanted to. She handed him the scroll and immediately went back to crying into him.

"Cinder killed Roman."

So the reason for Yang's change from the cannon is finally revealed. I wanted to do slightly more with her flashback, but what I wrote covered the topic just fine. As well, we know what Cinder was doing. Poor Roman.

Until next time,

-RMV